


Promises Made On Horseback

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Series: Short and Sweet (Fics of About 1000 Words or Less) [10]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Just going to tag for major character death again, Spoilers for Episode 26 of Campaign 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 18:59:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: Beau’s good at reading people. Interacting with them, not so much sometimes, but reading people, that she can do, and Molly is a book written for children with large letters and colorful pictures to her right now. His hands are tense on the reins of the horse they are sharing, and she can hear him grinding his teeth together. He’s angry, and Beau knows all about being angry.“Hey.”Molly doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even turn his head.“Molly?”Nothing. Beau has two hands on his waist only so she doesn’t fall off the back of the damn horse, and she thumps him in the side with one of them. “Hey asshole, you with me?”





	Promises Made On Horseback

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dathen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dathen/gifts).



> For @dathen on Tumblr, who posted the following before everything went down: 
> 
> I gotta write a fic of Beau clumsily trying to calm Molly down while they share a horse this may actually get me back into writing
> 
> also please steal this idea so I can get multiple fics of this
> 
> I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.

Beau’s good at reading people. Interacting with them, not so much sometimes, but _reading_ people, that she can do, and Molly is a book written for children with large letters and colorful pictures to her right now. His hands are tense on the reins of the horse they are sharing, and she can hear him grinding his teeth together. He’s angry, and Beau knows all about being angry.

“Hey.”

Molly doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even turn his head.

“Molly?”

Nothing. Beau has two hands on his waist only so she doesn’t fall off the back of the damn horse, and she thumps him in the side with one of them. “Hey asshole, you with me?”

“ _What do you_ ** _want_** _?”_ It’s a whisper that wants to be a yell, a scream, a fist in someone’s face or a sword to the gut.

“We’re going to get them back. You have to believe that.”

Silence, but Beau can feel the deep, shaky breaths that Molly takes.

“She’s family, Beau. Yasha’s the only family I have left. They took her. They took her and I was asleep and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

Molly sounds like he’s about to cry, and Beau doesn’t expect the thought of that to hurt so much, but it does. “I was sleeping too, and so was Caleb, and Nott. You think I don’t blame myself? That they don’t blame themselves? Your pain isn’t special, Molly.”

“If this is supposed to be making me feel better, you’re doing a piss poor job of it.”

“Oh fuck you. I’m trying to say, shit, your pain isn’t special, but that doesn’t mean you can’t _use_ it. Focus on those assholes who took them, instead of blaming yourself. Self-pity isn’t a weapon, but anger can be.”

Silence for a moment, and then a pained noise that was more like a laugh than a sob. “You know, that almost sounded wise.”

“Yeah, well, I have my moments.” Beau thumps him again, gentler this time. “Listen, we’re going to find these fuckers and wreck them and get our friends back. Our… family back.” The word sticks in her throat, but she realizes as she says it that she means it in a way that has nothing to do with the family she was born into, but the family she chose, or that chose her.

“You promise?” Molly’s voice sounds steadier now, and his grip on the reins isn’t quite so tight. Beau takes that as a victory.

“Hell’s yes, I promise. We’re going to free our friends and kick some ass and we’re going to win!”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Molly says, and this time he nearly sounds jovial. “And first round of victory drinks is on you.”

“Fuck you,” Beau says with a smile.

*********************

“Beau?”

Beau didn’t realize you could be numb and angry all at once. It’s like all her thoughts are shoved into a little corner in her brain. She’s staring in the direction that Lorenzo and his crew had gone, her vision strangely blurry, something trickling down her face.

“Beau?”

She doesn’t look away. If she looks anywhere else, she’s going to see him, purple and red, his colors, bright as always, but wrong now. So wrong.

Someone steps into her line of sight, and Beau gets the blurry impression of red hair, a brown coat, and bright blue eyes. She sees Caleb move his hands slowly, giving her enough time to move away, sees him watching her face for any sign that she doesn’t want to be touched. She doesn’t move as Caleb puts his hands on her shoulders, draws her close until his forehead is resting against hers. His face is wet with tears, and Beau finally realizes why her vision is so blurry. She’s crying too.

“There will be…” Caleb swallows hard. “There will be time for this later. We have to get Molly’s… we have to get Molly to a cleric. There are spells, but we have to move quickly. It will be expensive but—“

“Whatever we have to do,” Beau says. “However we have to get that money, I’ll do it.” She puts her hands on Caleb’s shoulders, not a hug but all the comfort she can offer. “He’s family, Caleb.”

“ _Ja_ , he is. We’re going to get him back, Beau. I promise.”

Beau smiles, more a grimace than a grin, it’s the best she can manage. “I’m going to hold you to that.” She looks past Caleb, down at the road, down at Molly. “First round of drinks is on me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm angel-ascending on Tumblr if you want to stop by and say hi, or cry about what happened.


End file.
